Cesar Chavez Avenue, Dallas, Texas

It's nice to find that life can still bring some surprises – especially when it's inside your own head.

On this whole Ross Avenue/César Chávez name change, my inclination was to oppose it.

After all, I'm the guy who argued for respecting history and leaving Industrial Boulevard alone.

Well, you see how influential I am. Industrial is now on its way to becoming Riverfront Boulevard.

If the name has to change, that's a good call. The whole point of this exercise was to build a little riverside synergy.

And let's give credit to Latino leaders for understanding that and not waging a battle over Industrial, despite that dialing-for-democracy poll.

So now we turn our attention to Ross Avenue, where those leaders do appear ready for a fight.

Besides, Ross Avenue is named for someone. That makes the name even more sacred. Ross Avenue is named for ... uh, wait a minute. Let's see ... Ross? Ross?

And here's where I hit my first mental snag. If you haven't got a clue whom a street is named for, is that really a name worth fighting to preserve?

Well, it turns out that Ross Avenue is named for brothers William and Andrew Ross. And as far as I can tell, their major accomplishment was owning the land where the new avenue was platted. That's it. They were landowners.

So Ross Avenue's name pays homage to wealth. Like we don't already have plenty of that in Dallas.

But what does César Chávez have to do with Dallas? Important figure, sure, but hardly someone you associate with Dallas, Texas.

Hang on a minute, my little mind said to me. What did the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have to do with Dallas? Or Malcolm X, for heaven's sake?

Truth is, we have no problem using names with no relation to Dallas – Seaside Drive, Oceanview and Mountain Valley, to name a far-fetched few.

But street names should have a permanence about them. We don't go changing street names just to suit changing times.

Well, yes we do. Just ask Francisco Luis Hector Baron de Carondelet. Dallas once had a short street named Carondelet for the Spanish colonial leader. But when it was extended, it was renamed – guess what – Ross Avenue.

Of course I have already mentioned MLK and Malcolm X – a couple of streets that got new names to better reflect our full history.

Dallas once had a Germania Street. But during World War I, that named seemed just a little too, uh, Germanic. It was changed to Liberty Street.

And back in the 1920s, when aviator Charles Lindbergh was the nation's sensation, Dallas named a street for him. Then in the 1930s, when Lindbergh was just a little too fond of Hitler, Dallas renamed his street for a local banker, William Francis Skillman.

OK, so maybe we could rename a street for Chávez. But wouldn't Singleton or Live Oak be better?

Yes, they would be better, I had to admit to myself, if the goal is to find a more obscure, out-of-the-way street.

Somehow that doesn't seem like a good argument: We'll honor Chávez, just not too much.

So after thinking it through, I surprise myself by saying, sure, let's rename Ross Avenue. Let's honor Chávez. And in doing so, let's honor the changing makeup of our city.

Changing Ross Avenue to Cesar Chavez makes logical sense

The tug-of-war currently happening in Dallas over whether or not Ross Ave. should be renamed Cesar Chavez is not going to end nicely. On the one hand, if city officials renege on their olive branch gesture to allow the city’s Latino community to honor a man recognized for fighting for the rights of Latino farm workers, bad feelings will undoubtedly ensue.

On the other hand, if city officials ignore the critics opposed to relegating the Ross family name only to the dusty annals of city history, more bad feelings will ensue. It clearly is a no-win situation for the Dallas City Council.

An editorial in today’s The Dallas Morning News would like to have us think so. According to the paper’s editorial board, the city’s Latino community would do the whole city a favor if we would just forget about changing Ross Ave. to Cesar Chavez Blvd. Their solution is to pick another street and choose someone who has more direct ties to Dallas’ Latinos.

There’s nothing wrong with that suggestion and, in fact, it’s long overdue. There should be recognition for any of our hard-working Latino and Latina politicians, business entrepreneurs or non-profit trailblazers with a street named in their honor, but there should also be a street named for Cesar Chavez too.

For The Dallas Morning News’ editorial board to arbitrarily declare that Cesar Chavez has no real meaning for Dallas Latinos shows a gross insensitivity to the community. Perhaps if they had a Latino/a editorial writer within their ranks who could have clued them in as to why Chavez is significant to all Latinos, then maybe they would have thought twice before publishing their ill-thought piece.

For starters, while it’s true that Cesar Chavez fought for the rights of farm workers, his legacy is that his memory has evolved into a symbol for standing up for the civil rights of all Latinos. His example of non-violence to get his message across is one that is replicated today by new generations of Latinos.

To many of us, he symbolizes the “every-Latino” who rose from humble beginnings, who never forgot his roots and always defended and spoke up for those who had no voice.

Cesar Chavez’ impact on today’s Latinos is something we’re constantly reminded of, especially whenever we hear a politician borrow Chavez’ most famous words: “Si se puede.”

Chavez, by virtue of his deeds, was and is able to bridge the wide variety of Latino cultures and unite us under one proud banner — no small feat.

And why Ross Ave.? There has been so much condemnation voiced over this selection that no one has examined the reason why this street was chosen.

The Cathedral is home to the largest Latino parish congregation in the nation. It holds a significant place in the history of the Dallas Latino community, not to mention that the building is not going anywhere.

It would be far easier to rename Ross Ave. Cesar Chavez Blvd and choose another street to rename for Ross Ave. In reviewing a 1901 Dallas city street directory at the Dallas County Texas Archives website, I discovered it wasn’t the first time Ross Ave. had been renamed.

In fact, in reviewing a Google map of downtown Dallas, the first thing that became apparent was that out of all the streets that wind throughout the heart of the city, there’s no street with a recognizable name that means something to the Latino community.

While there’s Malcolm X, Ervay, Griffin and Ackard to name a few, there’s no street, in a city that is majority Latino, that reflects our presence.

It’s time to change that and understand that there are plenty of streets to go around.

8-14-08: The good news is that yesterday a very good history of the Ross brothers was posted on the Dallasblog at http://www.dallasblog.com/200808151003357/dallas-blog/the-ross-brothers.html. The sad news is that this posting, and a related new web site at http://www.saveross.com/ appear to be directed at stopping this effort to permanently remember the Ross brothers and also add evidence of the Hispanic influence in Dallas to the Dallas infrastructure. Again some of the people in Dallas want to accommodate minorities.

Professor Darwin Payne has provided many very positive and needed reports on the history of the Ross brothers in Dallas. Sadly it is a history that probably fewer than 100 people in Dallas were aware of 6 months ago. The best thing about the process we are now engaged in regarding the renaming of Ross Avenue is that more people are becoming aware of the impressive history of the Ross brothers.

It is the type history that could probably be written about many of the people whose names are on the streets of Dallas, and also many of the people who did the actual labor building those streets and the city of Dallas, but whose names are unknown. Our culture is blessed with many honorable ancestors we too easily forget.

One goal of the Cesar Chavez Avenue Task Force is to document, on at least one permanent historical marker along Ross Avenue, details from the lives of William and Andrew Ross. The goal is that every day more people will read and learn about the lives of the Ross brothers than even knew of that history the half century before 2008.

In the process of remembering history we also want to remember the history that was never written about the thousands of minority families who lived along Ross Avenue working in the factories and homes of Dallas. Thus that minority community wants to place the name of one of their own greatest modern Hispanic leaders, Cesar Chavez, as the street name. The goal is to expand our cities acknowledgment of the many ethnic groups who helped build Dallas.

It is no accident that the ethnic groups who have the history that is least acknowledged in the Dallas infrastructure and street names are also the ethnic groups who have the highest dropout rates in Dallas ISD. This is a common characteristic among high school dropouts: they have little or no connection to their own personal histories. That is what helps also disconnect them from a focus onto their own futures.

A dropout prevention project now in its fourth year in one Dallas ISD school is working to reconnect students with their histories. It is helping students document their heritage, their past, and also their goals for the future. It is a dropout prevention project that is documented as lowering 9th to 10th grade dropout rates by over 25%. As the School Archive Project matures the dropout rate is anticipated to be cut in half! Such is the power of history!

However, unless the history for all the children in Dallas ISD, especially the majority, is better reflected in the major street names in our city, we have a tragic disconnection. The dropout rate will never go as low as is possible.

Backers of renaming Ross Avenue for César Chávez face long road

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 6, 2008

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-industrial_06met.ART.State.Edition2.4d787e6.html

By RUDOLPH BUSH / The Dallas Morning News
rbush@dallasnews.com Brad Watson of WFAA-TV (Channel 8) contributed to this report.

A plan to rename one of Dallas' oldest thoroughfares for civil rights leader César Chávez took a significant step forward Tuesday, but it has a long and likely difficult path toward becoming reality.

Sidestepping a controversy over renaming Industrial Boulevard for Mr. Chávez, a Dallas City Council committee voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend that Ross Avenue bear his name.

But that proposal – which also includes renaming Industrial as Riverfront Boulevard – succeeded mainly in shifting the controversy a few blocks east and several weeks or even months down the road.

Council member Steve Salazar, a key proponent of changing Ross to César Chávez Avenue, acknowledged as much moments before Tuesday's vote was taken by the Trinity River Corridor Project Committee.

"This is only one part of the process, and it's going to be a long process," he said.

The proposal next must go before the Dallas Plan Commission. A date for that meeting will likely be scheduled after a 10-day review by several city departments and other agencies.

At the plan commission stage, the public will have the first of at least two chances to be heard on the issue.

And if the calls and e-mails that came into City Hall on Tuesday are any indication, there should be quite a crowd.

The plan commission will have a chance to approve or deny the name change recommendation.

But no matter what the commission decides, the City Council will have the final vote.

The only question is whether approval of the name change would require a simple majority of the council or a three-quarters vote.

A three-quarters vote – 12 council members – would be required under two conditions: If the plan commission denies the recommendation or if 20 percent of property owners along Ross file a written opposition to the name change.

Alberto Ruiz, chairman of the César Chávez Task Force, a group of elected officials and Hispanic leaders pushing for the name change, said Tuesday that he expects his group will need to win a three-quarters vote of the council.

"I think it's going to be very difficult. We have to work hard. We're going to sweat a lot in the next few weeks," he said.

So far, only the council's three Hispanic members, Mr. Salazar, Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia and council member Pauline Medrano, are fully behind renaming Ross. All three are on the city's Trinity committee and voted in favor of the recommendation Tuesday.

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, who initially opposed renaming the street, also sits on the committee and voted in favor of the recommendation. Afterward, he said that he is likely to vote in favor of the name change when the issue reaches the full council.

But the rest of the Trinity committee, including council members Carolyn Davis, Linda Koop and Dave Neumann, hedged when asked what they will do when the issue comes before them again.

"I'm supportive of letting the process go forward," Ms. Koop said.

In clear opposition at this point are council members Jerry Allen, Ron Natinsky and Mitchell Rasansky.

Mr. Allen said he will listen to all sides but is reluctant to change a street name that is entrenched in Dallas history.

"It's like anything, it's hard to change that, and those are my memories, too," he said.

Indeed, more so than Industrial Boulevard, Ross Avenue seems to represent something deep about Dallas.

Cutting through the heart of downtown, it passes shining skyscrapers and rolls northeast into the neighborhoods of East Dallas where many Mexican immigrants have made a home.

The changes in the street from downtown to Greenville Avenue reflect something about the changing face and politics of Dallas.

That is one reason Ross is the right choice to be renamed for Mr. Chávez, Dr. Garcia said.

"What we are asking for today is respect. What the Latino community wants today is respect. How do you tell the community that César Chávez isn't good enough when this city has a 60 percent Latino population?" she asked.

Answering that question is sure to be complicated for opponents of renaming Ross.

Council member Angela Hunt, whose district includes much of Ross downtown, said she has already received calls from business owners who oppose changing the street's name. No business owners have called her in support, she said.

Calls from The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV (Channel 8) to several major businesses on Ross Avenue went unreturned.

"We don't have anything to offer you on that," said Jill Bernstein, spokeswoman for the Dallas Museum of Art, before abruptly hanging up.

A spokeswoman for Crow Holdings, which owns the Trammell Crow Center at Ross and Field Street, had no comment.

A spokeswoman for the company that manages Fountain Place at Ross and Pearl Street didn't return a call.

The Catholic Archdiocese said the church had yet to finalize a position, a spokeswoman said. The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe sits on Ross and has been cited by supporters of the name change as a major gathering place for Dallas Hispanics.

John Crawford, president and chief executive of Downtown Dallas, said his group hasn't had a chance to fully review the proposal.

Mayor Tom Leppert and many on the council took the same position Tuesday.

"Clearly on something like this you want to listen to all the groups in the community," Mr. Leppert said.

Ms. Hunt agreed but added that she has some concerns about changing the name of a street so tied to Dallas history.

Brothers William and Andrew Ross were prominent Dallas residents at the time of the Civil War, and Ross Avenue cuts through land that once belonged to them.

But like others on the council, Ms. Hunt said the process needs to play out fairly before a final decision is made.

"I am just now at the point where I can start talking to my constituents. We are very early in the process," she said.

Brad Watson of WFAA-TV (Channel 8) contributed to this report.

On about June 15, 2008 it was confirmed that Dallas civic powers will ignore a $20,000 survey they paid for that resulted in 52% of respondents wanted Cesar Chavez as the new name for Industrial Boulevard. Second place, with less than 20% of the vote, was the apparent winner. The battle to name Cesar Chavez Avenue was shifted to Ross Avenue, a street even closer to the heart of the area known as Little Mexico,
and much more central to Hispanic History in Dallas!

The photo below shows Industrial Blvd in relation to the area formerly known as Little Mexico.

Little Mexico, like many other laborer communities in the history of Dallas, has been virtually erased from the Dallas landscape. Industrial blvd was the major transportation artery through the industrial area of the city where thousands of workers from Little Mexico, and similar communities, worked or traveled every day. It was very appropriate to consider honoring such workers by renaming Industrial Blvd in the honor of a national leader in workers' rights. For the same reasons it is now even more appropriate to rename Ross Avenue to honor Cesar Chavez. Ross Avenue is significantly closer to the area once known as Little Mexico.

It is easier to ignore workers' basic human rights when we keep the names of such leaders hidden within their own communities, or somehow even try to turn a basic worker rights issue into a racial issue. Who benefits from such a distraction?

Perhaps Ross Avenue is due for change - Steve Blow

11:12 AM CDT on Sunday, August 10, 2008

Changing Ross Avenue to Cesar Chavez makes logical sense

Backers of renaming Ross Avenue for César Chávez face long road

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 6, 2008